Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is an important human pathogen which can cause a chronic condition with a high relapse rate despite the aggressive antimicrobial treatment. Recent studies showed that intracellular pattern recognition receptors (including NOD) in response to bacteria or bacterial products play a proinflammatory role by activating nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B). But how NOD2 mediates the proinflammatory response to S. aureus in mast cells (MCs) is unclear. So, in this study, we attempted to examine the role of NOD2 in inflammatory responses of MCs to S. aureus. P815 cells (a mouse mast cell line) were cultured. Real-time PCR was used to detect the NOD2 mRNA expression in P815 cells during S. aureus infection. The siRNA against NOD2 gene was synthesized and transfected into S. aureus-infected P815 cells. By using the methods of ELISA and flow cytometry, the effects of NOD2 gene silencing on cell phagocytosis, cytokine secretion, NF-kappa B activation and cell apoptosis of the S. aureus-infected P815 cells were examined. It was found that S. aureus infection could increase the expression of NOD2 mRNA in P815 cells. NOD2 gene interference in P815 cells reduced the number of S. aureus engulfed by P815 cells, the level of cytokines and the activation of NF-kappa B. In addition, S. aureus could induce the apoptosis of P815 cells, but NOD2 gene silencing did not affect the cell apoptosis rate. Our data suggested that NOD2 plays a key role in pathogen recognition, signal transduction, and NF-kappa B activation in the inflammatory responses of MCs infected by S. aureus.